Not seen the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update drop yet? Running Windows 10 Pro? There might be a very good reason why you’ve not be lavished with the latest operating system, and it’s buried in the settings.

For the past month, I’ve been regularly pressing the Check for New Updates button in Windows Update, only to be told I was fully up-to-date – even though I knew there was a new version of Windows waiting in the wings.

The reason I wasn’t being offered the new Windows? Because I was being held back by Microsoft.

If you go into the Windows Update settings, you’ll find a link for Advanced Options at the bottom of the page. Click this, and you’ll see the following screen:

It seems Windows 10 Pro machines are automatically set to wait for the Current Branch for Business, which as Microsoft explains, is the version it deems “is ready for widespread use in organisations”.

This is actually a sensible precaution from Microsoft. Instead of throwing the latest release at businesses, it waits until the new version of the operating system is fully bedded in and any major flaws have been fixed before shoving it down the pipe to business-critical machines. If you’re an impatient tech journalist, however, you can simply switch to the Current Branch, and you’ll be offered the latest version right away.

Oddly, Microsoft has changed the names of the Current Branch/Current Branch for Business in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. They’re now referred to as the Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) and Semi-Annual Channel respectively. Which is far more confusing than the names they had previously. Peak Microsoft.

About the author

Barry Collins

Barry has scribbled about tech for almost 20 years for The Sunday Times, PC Pro, WebUser, Which? and many others. He was once Deputy Editor of Mail Online and remains in therapy to this day. Email Barry at barry@bigtechquestion.com.